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Pistachio’s- some interesting facts

February 25, 2021 by 121dietitian

Pistachio nut day is on 26th February 2021

We love pistachios here at 121 Dietitian so when we spotted there was a special world pistachio day we felt we had to give them a big shout out!

Did you know:

• Pistachio are nuts native to Western Asia and Asia Minor, archaeology suggests that pistachios were eaten as a common food as early as 6750 BC. Wow!
• They are one of the more expensive of the nuts out there because of the trees on which they grow. It only reaches production 15-20 years after being planted. Isn’t that crazy!
• Pistachio trees can only produce about 22kg of nuts each year. Furthermore, pistachios are sorted by hand and not by machine.
• Pistachio trees can only grow in cool winters and hot summers, meaning that there’s only a few locations in the world where the trees can grow.
• Iran is the biggest producer of pistachio nuts ahead of USA and then Turkey.

How to eat:

When eating pistachios from the shell, split the shell and eat the small kernel inside. The kernel may have a thin skin on it that do eat this for upping polyphenols. If you find a nut in a shell that doesn’t pry apart easily, simply use a nutcracker to open it up.

As a snack. Eating pistachios raw or roasted. Both in-shell and shelled pistachios are available in grocery stores.
Over salads. Shelled pistachios (either whole or chopped) are often sprinkled over salads. Pistachios can also be puréed and mixed with oil and herbs to make a creamy salad dressing.
Ground into sauces. Ground pistachios are popular as a base for sauces and dips, like pistachio-yogurt sauce.
Added to bread dough. Ground pistachios can be added to bread dough to give it a thicker texture with extra protein.
In desserts. Chopped pistachios are commonly mixed into or sprinkled atop desserts like ice cream, cake, truffles, and pastries.

Pistachios are also a common ingredient in dishes from an array of cultures:

• In Turkish dishes. Pistachios are most well-known in Turkish recipes for being minced and layered in the traditional baklava.
• In Italian dishes. Pistachios are a common addition to Italian pastas, either chopped and mixed in to the noodles or ground and made into a spiced pistachio sauce.
• In Indian dishes. Indian food makes ample use of pistachios, and they’re a staple ingredient in many Indian rice puddings, pilafs, cookies, and a spiced pistachio fudge called pista barfi.
• In Iranian dishes. pistachios are a common ingredient mixed into Iranian chicken and rice dishes, and also served as a traditional Persian snack, roasted with lemon juice and saffron and tossed with sea salt.

Nutrition

Pistachios are high in fibre: Eating pistachios can improve your gut health if you have no ongoing dysbiosis issues. Rich fibre foods help move food through the gut and prevent constipation and may help reduce the risk of colon cancer.
Pistachios are high in antioxidants: Pistachios are known to contain antioxidants that have strong cancer-fighting properties and cardiovascular disease prevention. Furthermore, pistachios also contain lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids that help maintain eye health and overall immunity.
Pistachios are great for vegans and vegetarians: With protein accounting for almost 21% of the total weight of the nut, pistachios contribute almost 6% to a person’s daily protein needs. For plant-based diets, pistachios provide that much-needed protein.
Relative to other tree nuts, pistachios have a lower amount of fat and calories but higher amounts of potassium, vitamin K, γ-tocopherol, and certain phytochemicals such as carotenoids, and phytosterols.
A handful of pistachios (45) contain 156 calories, 3 grams of fibre, and are one of the most vitamin B6-rich foods around.

Do you enjoy eating pistachio’s? they are so tasty if you haven’t tried them then don’t continue to miss out, try them as part of a bigger plan to increase variety in your diet.

Let us know what you think!!

Gillian x

info@121dietitian.com

Sugar Awareness Week 2021 What you need to know about sugar….

January 15, 2021 by 121dietitian

It is Sugar awareness week 18th – 24th January 2021 so I thought I would take a look at this in more detail for you as it is one of the biggest concerns my patients have when I see them at my clinics.

What is sugar?
The term ‘sugar’ usually refers to what we know as table or granulated sugar – the type of sugar that we add to our tea or coffee. We also are familiar to the different variations which include caster sugar, icing sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar, these are types mostly used in baking.
These, you may already know, are not the only sugars around. Sugar occurs naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy.
All ‘sugars’ are carbohydrates and along with starch they one of our body’s main source of energy. Carbohydrates are required for our brains, bodies and nervous system. In fact it has been part of our diets for thousands of years. Sugar is found naturally in most foods like fruits, vegetables and milk as well as being an ingredient used in a wide range of foods and drinks.

Great, so what is all the fuss about?
Consuming whole foods that contain natural sugar is acceptable as part of a healthy intake when you have a healthy metabolism. Plant foods have high amounts of fibre, essential minerals, and antioxidants alongside smaller amounts of carbs, and dairy foods contain protein, fats and calcium which are important for the body.
Because of these extra components your body digests these foods slowly allowing the sugar in them to provide a steady supply of energy to your cells. A sufficient intake of fruits, vegetables, and fibre rich foods have been shown to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers.

So what’s the problem?
Increasing technology has brought many changes to our food production. More and more convenience foods are available that taste good, are very addictive and can be eaten 24/7.
Problems occur when regularly eating these processed foods leads you to consume too much “added sugar”. The food manufacturers add this to enhance the flavour or extend shelf life and this can often be hidden in foods you would never imagine.
In the modern diet, the top sources of sugar are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yogurts, cereals, biscuits, cakes, sweets and most processed foods. But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, processed meats, and condiments like ketchup.

How much sugar are we allowed?
Our recommended dietary intake of sugar per day:

Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, (roughly equivalent to 7 tsps/sugar cubes).

Children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (6 tsps/sugar cubes).

Children aged 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars a day (5 tsps/sugar cubes).

What we consume
Adults in the UK take in 3 times the recommended amount at an average of 22 teaspoons/cubes of added sugar per day, according to the NHS website.
Four to 10-year-olds are eating more than twice as much sugar as they should per day, equivalent to 13 tsps/sugar cubes (PHE 2018).

“Excess sugar’s impact on obesity, Blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, fatty liver and diabetes and this is well documented, but one area that may surprise many is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health and increase risk of stroke,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Impact on your heart
In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who are 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar.

“Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease,” says Dr. Hu.

Sugar has several indirect connections to affecting heart health:
1) high amounts of sugar overload the liver. “Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat,” says Dr. Hu. Over time, this can lead to a greater accumulation of fat, which may turn into fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes, which raises your risk for heart disease.
2) Consuming too much added sugar can raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation, both of which are pathological pathways to heart disease.
3) Excess consumption of sugar, especially sugary drinks, also contributes to weight gain by tricking your body into turning off its appetite-control system because liquid calories are not as satisfying as calories from solid foods. This is why it is easier for people to add more calories to their regular diet when consuming sugary drinks.

What can you do??
Reading food labels is one of the best ways to monitor your intake of added sugar. Look for the following names for added sugar and try to either avoid, or cut back on the amount or frequency of the foods where they are found:

• brown sugar
• corn sweetener
• corn syrup
• fruit juice concentrates
• high-fructose corn syrup
• honey
• invert sugar
• malt sugar
• molasses

Also syrup sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose).

Check the total sugar of the product, which includes added sugar, this is usually listed in grams.
If it says 5 grams of sugar per serving, but the normal amount you would eat is three or four servings, you will easily consume 20 grams of sugar which is way too much.
Also, watch the amount of sugar or syrups you add to your food or drinks. About half of added sugar comes from adding it to coffee and tea. A study in the May 2017 Public Health found that about two-thirds of coffee drinkers and one-third of tea drinkers put sugar or sugary flavourings in their drinks. The researchers also noted that more than 60% of the calories in their beverages came from added sugar.

Planning to make sugar cuts?????
Be careful when cutting back on added sugar as you may find yourself filling up on other foods to satisfy your sweet cravings. Foods like white bread, white rice and pasta can also increase glucose levels in addition to providing more sodium than you need so not ideal.

Really work at making healthy swaps:

If you take sugar in your hot drinks cut down little by little to allow your taste buds to adjust.
Don’t add jam ever day to your toast – if you are at increased health risk then think about choices that won’t spike your blood glucose, eggs are a good alternative and ditch the toast too.

If you are not sure how to make safe and healthy swaps, please do get in touch, we are experts in all areas of nutrition and health and we would love to help you.

Gillian x

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Email: info@121dietitian.com

Hashimoto’s and me -the best ever! Part 4…

January 14, 2020 by 121dietitian

I was reflecting this morning and realized wow, what a year 2019 has been. My best health year for the past 10!

Clinical work has grown and has become immensely intense with more and more patients attending with multiple and complex issues. With my good health these challenges are no longer draining and so I continue to train in new services and collaborate with excellent health professionals and institutions to offer my expertise.

My niche is certainly assisting people who have nutritional issues that may also affect their health negatively in ways they did not realise: Eating disorders, mental health and well-being, resistant weight, metabolic syndrome, gut health, fatigue, auto-immune conditions, hormonal issues, fertility, allergies, nutrigenomics, optimization of the workplace…..

I personally continue to follow my health programme to ensure that I remain optimised to keeps me tip-top. In addition I run with a running club and have completed several cross-country races and love Park run when I can ever get to it. (kids activities seem to dictate!)

Chronic Illness

Chronic illness is, I believe, like a jigsaw puzzle. Illness is complex and often can’t be completed/fixed in one go. In relation to chronic ill health, it can take several years for some people to manage this jigsaw – often following unscientific or expensive paths in desperation. The illness is often still there but the medications assists in just getting through the day. This way of living masks the underlying problems. Fixing the cause is King, and working with the body through its ups and downs is the only way out.

At 121 Dietitian, availing of a full assessment allows a a complete evaluation of you diet, lifestyle, sleep, inflammation, blood results. A bespoke detailed written programme is then provided – and a follow up to check how all is progressing. Positive results can be achieved in a few weeks. Fantastic for the client and the reason I love to go to work.

I look forward to every day and hope that I can help you too feel the same. If you need some advice or direction please email: info@121dietitian.com or call +44 (0) 7717392306.

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The truth about nutritional supplements revealed by a UK leading Dietitian

March 11, 2019 by 121dietitian

One of the most commonly asked questions we hear at 121 Dietitian is “What supplements should I be taking?” With this in mind, Director and Principal Dietitian Gillian Killiner discusses the topic of supplements and who should be taking what.

It might surprise you to learn that the term ‘dietary supplement’ actually applies to a wide group, including; vitamins, herbs, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, protein drinks, sport aids, weight loss pills, anti aging tonics etc.

According to a report in Optimum Nutrition Magazine, the nutritional supplement market in the UK in 2016 was valued at £431 million and this is expected to double in the next 5 years.

People in the U.K. take dietary supplements for a variety of different reasons. Athletes and bodybuilders may take supplements to gain performance improvements and to bulk up. Others take supplements to get protein and vitamins into their diets as part of an overall focus on a healthier lifestyle.

Pregnant and lactating women may take dietary supplements to provide enough nutrients to support their growing babies. Children from ages six months to five years may be given supplements to make certain that they are getting enough vitamins while they are growing. The government recommends that children in this age group are given supplements of vitamins A, C and D.

People also take dietary supplements to help lose weight, while older adults take supplements to help to maintain their health as they age.

This sounds and is, for the main part, acceptable. When supplements are advised and taken correctly, they can enhance an individual’s health and thus improve life outcomes and I am all for this when following an expert’s advice. However, this needs to be after a full health assessment.

What is most worrying is that I find frequently in my clinical practice individuals taking supplements for several years or maybe longer and they really have no idea the quality of the supplement they are taking (often cheap shop brand) the quantity of the ingredient dose they are taking and the risks associated with this or on the reverse that they might not be absorbing the ingredients at all.

Sadly, I have had several patients who have significant liver damage as a direct result of high dose supplementation taken for an extended period of time.

Truth be told, I am a supplement nerd and I am meticulous in sourcing the correct therapeutic supplements for each individual based on their; health, lifestyle, age, sex, metabolic status and most importantly, blood test results.

The supplements that I select are chosen because they have:

No nasty chemicals which can often trigger additional issues with gut/skin health.
Selected for optimal dosage and from natural sources so the body can absorb them easily.
Purest for no toxicity.
Dose administered to assist their optimal absorption.
If using several supplements they are introduced over time to monitor for any reactions.

During the time a patient is with me, bloods and symptoms are monitored to ensure health is assisted and the supplements taken for the correct time frame at the correct dose.

So where does that leave you?

For those of you that do supplement:

Do remember you can’t expect supplements to take care of a bad diet or lifestyle – research has proven this to be more harmful.
If you take supplements please do consider there are positives and negatives to these and be aware that they could be unnecessary, toxic or just making expensive urine!
Don’t mix food supplements and medicines.
Some food supplements can interact with medicines. So if you are taking any medication, seek advice from either a GP or dietitian.

Your body is like a finely tuned engine of a car – all the parts have to work in harmony to ensure you are in top gear. Too much or too little of anything and your won’t be firing on all cylinders!

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Top health tips for 2019 by Gillian Killiner

December 12, 2018 by 121dietitian

At 121 Dietitian, we firmly believe that small steps can always be taken to greatly improve our health.

Looking at the key areas of mental health, kids’ health and weight loss, here we share our top health tips for 2019….

Mental health

If you want instant improvements a few simple suggestions include:

Stay well hydrated: fluids, notably water and not caffeinated drinks allow the brain and body to function. If dehydrated you will become sluggish and metabolism slows down adding to a depressed state.
Avoid processed meals and snacks: Artificial, chemical laden foods will cause your body to build insulin resistance over time. High fructose syrups and sugars affect metabolism and cause low level inflammation, affecting Vitamin A and D levels, magnesium, copper and iron to name a few. This downward spiral negatively affects mental health and causes additional chronic illness.
Get adequate sleep: This is essential for brain health. Poor sleep is linked to physical problems such as a weakened immune system and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Sleep allows the brain to shrink and eliminate toxins that can build up and lead to Alzheimer’s. It also allows to repair and consolidation of memories.

Kids’ health

Nutrition and lifestyles are ever changing as kids grow. Peer pressure, advertising and increasing independence all contribute to choices made. To optimise growth, development and good mental stability, we recommend the following:

Encourage your kids to eat all together and most importantly with an adult – the more the merrier! A meal with family and friends allows a relaxed, enjoyable experience. It encourages children to eat more variety and not scoff!
Each week or month try a new healthy food, especially with vegetables and fruits. Make it fun, research the food chosen and rate different recipes.
When eating, turn the gadgets, phones and TV off. This will reduce the risk of mindless eating and thus obesity.
If your kids are eating many unhealthy snacks, try to reduce these over time. Use tasty protein/fat alternatives like nut butters, avocados, cheeses, eggs, seeds, greek yoghurt topped with a little natural sugars such as dark chocolate or berries, plenty of vegetables including peppers, celery, carrots, cucumber and make flaxseed wraps or oat buns.

Weight loss

Do not get caught up in kcal counting! The quality of your food is vital for providing satiety and happiness, better than any sugarless, fatless, processed biscuit.
Make sure you are not battling with a hormonal or nutritional imbalance. These can thwart your best efforts and really damage your confidence.
Always chew your food well and take time to enjoy what you eat. Getting the enzymes in your mouth involved will assist metabolism and send the correct signals from the gut to the brain to indicate fullness.
Avoid low fat/sugar processed foods where possible.
Eat a rainbow at each meal for nutrient density.
Alcohol provides liquid energy so be careful of how much you consume. It can negatively affect your weight loss goals.

If you have any concerns about how to get healthier please get in touch. We are experts in nutrition and able to assist you with all health issues.

To book an appointment, click here. Call 07717392306 or email: info@121dietitian.com

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Information checked & correct on 12th December 2018.

FODMAPs – all you need to know to get results..

September 11, 2018 by 121dietitian

Here, Gillian Killiner, Principal Dietitian at 121, discusses the Low Fodmap Programme and in particular, why seeking the help of a qualified and experienced Dietitian is key to implementing it successfully.

The Low Fodmap Programme has been around for over 10 years. I heard about it in its infancy and thought: “Wow! This is excellent for gut dysfunction and IBS”. And so in 2010/2011, I packed my bags and returned from Belfast to London on three separate weeks to go back to my training hospital, Guys and St Thomas’s to learn all about it – the first course of its kind outside of Monash University, Australia.

The work load was intense but exciting. After qualifying with my certificate in Low FODMAP practice, I took my first ~~guinea pigs~~ patients and we followed the information I had learned from the course. I can’t lie, it was hard work and over the 7 years I have been practicing the Low FODMAP programme daily, much has changed in the way I deliver, advise and support because everyone is different. My high success rate of 97% is due to my expertise of using the programme daily.

The gut is not just about absorption – it’s microbiota has a complex network of links to emotions, stress, activity, genetics, medical history, medication, lifestyle, food and fluids…

We as individuals are not all uniform and do not follow the same diet and lifestyle so this is the basis of my increasing frustration and the fiasco I find myself in.

People are coming to me more and more in desperation, telling me they have tried the Low FODMAP programme and it hasn’t worked. AhhHHHHH!! Another emotional boundary to cross.

I have found that with the programme’s popularity and success has come the internet dippers who take a bit from one website that they like and mix it with another and believe they have completed the programme. Wrong…

The other – and most frustrating way that these people are not succeeding – is that they are being handed a “sheet” from their Consultant or GP and left to get on with it. Excuse me… WHAT??? A little more respect to the programme please! A sheet will not get results but in fact dangerously add to people’s fears around food and restriction is dangerous in the wrong hands.

A patient came to me recently and had been told by a health food shop to avoid a major list of foods. She did so and over two years of carefully following the advice she back gravely ill, malnourished, depressed and still her stomach issues continued.

If you have a gut health problem that has not resolved with medication, dietary changes, or visiting a health shop to pay and hold two balls in the air and told to eat very little, don’t despair – do get in touch.

Gillian is an expert in all areas of Gut Health and provides a free, no obligation assessment prior to an appointment

For more information, call Gillian on: 07717392306 or email: info@121dietitian.com

Our Clinics are available online worldwide and located at various clinics in NI.

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